This article is provided by the Lifelines team.

"LifeLines is a monthly column dedicated to addressing issues of mental, behavioural, and social health. The column appears on the 1st weekend of the month, and is written by professionals in the field of social work, mental health, and community medicine".

Is it any wonder that the Current Criminal Assizes has listed amongst its cases, six cases of unlawful carnal knowledge, and eight indecent assault cases, all against children? Are these cases a true indication of the situation in our country, or do they represent the tip of the proverbial iceberg?

The sexual violation of young children, mainly girls, has been taking place in our society for a long time, often with the tacit consent of adults responsible for the care and well being of these children. Often the violators of children are relatives, namely, fathers, stepfathers and mothers’ residential partners. What is particularly disturbing is that even though the law protects these children from sexual violation, there are adults within our society who believe that these children are aggressive, “hot,” or are out there seeking to be violated. Therefore, many adults blame children for their being violated, thus re-victimizing the victims.

One has to bear in mind the early experience of a large number of our girls, who are growing up, often with little male interaction and/or male affirmation, and suffering from what psychologists call “daddy hunger,” thus making them vulnerable to adult males who often provide the much needed attention and also take advantage of them. The writer is not here implying that all females who grow up in homes without a male figure are at risk for being violated, but a large number are. Also, positive male affirmation definitely correlates with delayed sexual activity and higher academic achievement amongst females.

Who are these perpetrators of sexual offences against children? Is there any profiling of such offenders? Sadly there isn’t. Adults who exhibit this clinically pathological behaviour come from all socio-economic backgrounds and are found in every area of endeavour within our society. Often they are in professions or occupations that give them easy access to children. 

Parents do not have to become paranoid about persons providing care for their children, or working with them in other capacities. However, well-intentioned parents need to ask their children to report to them any behaviour by any adult, despite whom that adult may be, that makes them uncomfortable. Parents also need to take seriously any reports made by their children implicating “well-meaning” adults and not pass them off as mistakes, in. Marriage to alleged perpetrators of children post-dating the alleged offence, and continued co-habitation with the violators of children, deal a death blow to the trust that children have in parents.

Law Enforcement, Social Service Personnel, and the Judiciary are doing their best to halt this “killing tide” from destroying the emotional health and possibly the physical health of young females, and in a few cases males, who are sexually violated by adults. Human behavior, however, cannot be effectively monitored by legislation, since the greatest law is engraved in the human “heart,” thus; doing no harm to one’s “neighbour” has to begin in the mind of every right thinking human being.

Clearly, there are a number of very ill persons who live amongst us and on whom the full strength of the Amended Sexual Offences legislation must be brought to bear. Sexual Offences against minors under 14 years of age carry a maximum life sentence, yet the maximum has not been meted out to any offender to date. Not that punishing offenders would deter perpetrators, or would it? Stiff sentences would, however, underscore the serious nature of these offences, which also have implications for maternal mortality and morbidity since underage females who become pregnant present serious health risks.

One of the areas that have been difficult to manage successfully is the evidentiary area. There is nonchalance amongst the adult population in our society, with reference to sexual offences against children. This could be because so many adults themselves have had these experiences as children. A non-empirical assessment of the situation suggests that almost one in two adult females has had inappropriate sexual behaviour exhibited to her during childhood. This obviously explains why adult caregivers of violated children experience so much societal pressure to settle these matters out of court.

Given the “cultural” legacy of child sexual abuse, it makes it important for the State to take the lead role as the offended party in sexual offences against children. The importance of the adult virtual complainant to the prosecution of child sexual offenders is an area that needs keen attention if the cases that make it to the Preliminary Investigation are to be successfully prosecuted and offenders made to pay their dues – “time” in the state penitentiary and mandated clinical care.

The outcome of cases cannot, and should not, be left to the whims and fancy of virtual complainants who often succumb to societal or economic pressure because of dependence on the perpetrators. The State has to become the complainant in these matters as in other jurisdictions, since offences against children are truly offences against the State. When this happens, there will be a greater success rate in prosecuting sexual offences against children.

Sexual offences against children cut across the grain of common decency, and this cannibalistic behaviour should be frowned upon by all the citizens of this fair land. The names of all child sex offenders found guilty of this offence, should be published, with photographs, so it is public knowledge and other potential offences prevented.

As a society, we must exhibit such outrage and place such severe social sanctions on child sex offenders, or potential child sex offenders, that they would desist from this practice or find another country in which to reside.

Let’s endeavour to make these the best times to be a child and this country the best place in which to be a child.

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